More About Claire Holden
In her role as Burson UK’s Chief Innovation Officer, Claire looks at how we connect to culture and communities, apply trends and technology, and encourage change to be distinctive and future proofed. She’s focused on how Burson and our clients adapt to an everchanging world; creating new communication strategies and ideas that set the agenda as well as react to it.
Claire also leads Sports & Entertainment across EMEA, a team of experts in sport marketing and communication, all driven by the power of sport to unite and create action. The team works across a mix of sport companies, sponsors and governing bodies – such as adidas, Gillette, HSBC and IOC – on briefs spanning community engagement and brand building through to risk and reputation management.
Claire has led the adidas account for 12+ years, with an ongoing brief to keep the brand at the heart of sport culture and maximise credibility, through creativity and connection to the right people of influence. Our work includes sponsorship activation (events, clubs, athletes), product launches and brand campaigns, with a scope to both build and protect the brand globally and locally. Claire has worked across eight FIFA World Cup and Olympic and Paralympic Games, and her leadership has seen extensive award wins including Integrated Campaign of the Year, Idea of the Year, Brand of the Year, Agency of the Year, Branded Content of the Year and a Cannes Lions.
Claire previously took a 10-month secondment as adidas’ head of global PR, a placement that provided new insight and reference for delivering our craft and service.
Claire’s background is in consumer communications, working across a diverse range of brands to build awareness through to loyalty. She has broad experience, having worked across consumer tech, entertainment, retail, fashion and sport.
Claire is a judge for D&AD’s New Blood Awards and PRCA’s Young Lions and was included in Creativepool’s
Top 100 Influencers. Claire is a founding member of TEDxBrixton.
In 2021, Claire was named as the SABRE Awards EMEA Agency Innovator of the Year.